well hello and welcome and in today's little adventure
i'm walking from Nash Point lighthouse along the Glamorgan Heritage Coast
towards Llantwit Major we were meant to be going back on the road and exploring
europe this summer into autumn but things keep
changing our plans keep being cancelled so it
looks like we'll be staying in the UK for the rest of the
year so anyway that's an ideal opportunity to continue
to explore Wales and in particular closer to home for us
which is the area around the south wales coast
so let's get started oh before we go look at these amazing cliffs
so today's route we'll be walking from Nash Point lighthouse
along the tops of these amazing cliffs towards Llantwit Major
and on the way you get brilliant views of Devon
Somerset and the Bristol Channel and amongst these cliffs
we're going to come across little coves where hundreds of years ago
pirates and smugglers used to hang out also we'll be going past the former home
of William Randolph Hearst if you don't know who he was he was the
American newspaper tycoon who
Orson Welles based his character Citizen Kane on
we've actually been to his other famous house
in California Hearst castle in San Simeon
that was really interesting and over the top so
enough chatter let's get going
I forgot to mention this stretch of the Glamorgan heritage coast
is really good for fossils and fossil hunting
especially ammonites
so now i'm walking along the cliff top so our first stop
which is Nash Point lighthouse it was built
in the 19th century and it's a grade two listed building
and it was the last in Wales to be automated
but what I remember Nash Point four isn't the lighthouse
it's the foghorn i remember as a kid on a foggy day you're in the blast all
the way over in Porthcawl look at that
they used to use that foghorn up until the 90s
but they still used to let it off for tourists and visitors
twice a month but i've heard it's no longer working
so i'm not sure maybe they'll restore it
if you've heard the fog one lately let me know one bizarre little story
when I was a very young kid in Porthcawl when I used to hear the foghorn
for some reason i used to think it was the fish
singing in the sea, don't know why that came from
as i've mentioned as you walk along the cliff tops
you get really good views across the Bristol channel
over to England and Somerset I'll stick in a photograph because I've
got a wide-angle lens on this so it may look better in a photograph
anyway here it is
you can see how unstable the cliffs are by this wall
so i've just entered a little wooded area i think the path drops down to
Saint Donats Bay
remember earlier I mentioned this coastline is really good for fossil
hunting come and have a look at this
so I've now reached St Donats Bay and behind me
that property there is part of St Donats Castle
but further back near St Donats village it's now known as Atlantic College which
is an international school unfortunately it's all closed up you
can't go into the grounds but this was the
property that was owned by the American newspaper tycoon William
Randolph Hearst when he bought it he set about what was
described as a brutal renovation and
he destroyed other ancient buildings around the uk
tore them down brought them here and incorporated them
in his new design despite spending millions on the place in the time he
owned it he only spent a total of four months at St Donats but
when he did arrive he normally brought an entourage
including the likes of Charlie Chaplin Clark Gable Errol Flynn
Winston Churchill and a young JFK who came with his parents
so I'm now off to Tresilian Bay which is meant to be haunted
just before you get to Tresilian Bay I've come across
an old world war ii pill box and you can still get inside
let's go
oh on the beach of Tresilian Bay there's another couple of pillboxes
and there's one over the other side as
so now I've reached Tresilian Bay and this
bay was frequented by smugglers and pirates
back in the olden days, it's also said to be haunted
by a character known as Peter the Pirate
hello I'm Peter, Peter the Pirate, well anyway
back in the 15th century Peter the Pirate was drowned
by Sir henry Straddling in the sea cave to the west of the bay and apparently
when there's a full moon on a winter's night you can still hear
the cries of Peter the Pirate as they echo across
the bay
"Hello, I'm Peter the Pirate"
i think you could have come up with a better name
imagine him at a pirate club what's your name
Blackbeard what's your name Pete, Peter the Pirate.
and here's another pill box i didn't know there were so many
along this stretch of coast
so we've now reached Llantwit Major and apparently, this is where the Vikings
used to land and raid the town and there's a legend
that the locals got so fed up of this they laid on dancing girls
and drink for the Vikings and when they were a little worse for
where the locals pounced so i don't know if
it's true but this victory apparently was was
marked by the town on the third of May I don't know if it
still is if you live in Llantwit Major do you still celebrate the third of May
let me know
so that's the end of our walk from Nash Point lighthouse
to Llantwit Major beach it was about three and a half miles
and if you enjoyed and want to see some more videos of places in Wales
shameless plug check out the playlist below
or the channel Fly Drive Explore so until next time
it's a goodbye from me and a goodbye from an absent Mel, goodbye